Danke Ume - (Plum Blossom's Early Spring)
by DirectionOfTime
Summary: Kakuzu's been sent on a rather...small time mission by the Akatsuki: to pick up some supplies after their mole got captured. It might feel like nothing more than a waste of time, but what he finds in the small village, near their current hideout, is nothing like what he expected. Namely one Haruno Sakura. KakuSaku. Oneshot. For Asai24 (requested).


_Oneshot for **Asai24** ^_^ :-_

_Note: This will take place on an alternate timeline from the Team Kaka / Team 10 combo that killed Kaku and Hidan just after Asuma's death. In this story Asuma's death and the meeting of the 'immortals' of Akatsuki hasn't happened yet / will be changed to fit in with events of this story - cool? :) Happy reading! And I hope you enjoy this especially, Asai24, I really enjoyed writing it! ^_^_

**_Danki Ume – (Plum Blossom's Early Spring)_**

Kakuzu grumbled irritatedly for the umpteenth time that day, he was still bristling at having to be the one to go out and pick up the supplies they needed. Damn their mole for getting caught and screwing up their replenishment dates. Just as he finished his advanced henge to alter his facial appearance, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror of his room, _when was the last time he'd seen himself without scars? Without all of those stitches that had marred his skin for decades? _His face looked so young without those sharp black lines, and it was weird, too, catching himself without a mask over his face and head; the simple, traditional yukata he wore clung to him more tightly than his Akatsuki cloak did. He felt so..._exposed_...even for being part of a sneaky-beaky clandestine group that was, admittedly, the very _least_ subtle secret group he'd ever been involved with.

"Mwahahahah!" A sudden burst of full-on belly-laughing immediately drew his attention to the door and his mood straight down to the earthen floor, "Kakuzu-chan you look positively adorable! Hahah!" Hidan managed to edge his words out between his uncontrollable laughter, only encouraging Kakuzu's eyebrows to pinch together tighter in irritation and his chakra to gather in preparation of causing his partner excessive pain.

"Hidan, if you're here for a reason get to the point, or I'll cut off your hands and hide them somewhere for you to find,"

"You're so _grumpy_ Kakuzu, you need to lighten up man, it's only to pick up a few supplies we need since our idiot-mouth got himself seen by the Konoha nin...but Konan-sama wanted me to tell you that we also need some herbs, uh Ashitaba[1] and Hatomugi[2]"

"Fine." Kakuzu replied shortly, marching past his partner who was still grinning idiotically, no doubt thinking up more stupid jokes,

"Its lucky you have so many hearts, you old bastard, with how stressed you normally are, at least you can rule out a heart-attack from eventually killing you," Hidan laughed again, following the Taikigakure nukenin[Waterfall village missing nin], "Or better yet, looking like that you could even get yourself a girlfriend - maybe she'd help with that stress of yours, hmm?" Before Kakuzu could respond, Kisame's low, but nonetheless threatening voice cut across from the raised rock table in the central courtyard covered by the bleached bones of some long-dead monster of a creature.

"Hidan, shut your stupid mouth and get over here! I've been waiting for you to place your bet for ages!"

"Yea, well Konan-sama asked me to tell Kakuzu-san about the extra items!"

"I don't care...its either your move or Samehada's," As he spoke, the blue-skinned shark-man lifted his gigantic sword in the air, as Hidan rolled his eyes, muttering,

"_Show-off,"_

* * *

Kakuzu shifted his uncomfortable traditional garb again as he walked along the quiet wooded pathway; as per the Akasuki's unwritten rules, all of its members were required to have at least one set of civilian or traditional wear so that, should the need arise, they would have the ability to blend into the background. Up to a few years previously, they used this quite often, but since they began to really make moves for the Jinchuuriks, it was more in their favour to make an obvious statement about their organisations and intent. Kakuzu wasn't sure if he'd simply put on weight recently, but it really did seem tighter than he remembered. _Stupid Hidan_ that idiot seemed very partial to fried foods and they always seemed to end up near some fast-food vendor for their sustenance - much to Kakuzu's chagrin... though they were also close to mercenary bounty collection points, so perhaps he couldn't complain _too_ much.

The 'nearby town' was still a good twenty-five to thirty kilometres from their hideout and in the interest of discretion, orders had been that he wasn't allowed to use any chakra (besides that which kept his henge in tact) within a five kilometre radius of the minute town of Timichi. His traditional high _zouri_ forced his steps to be smaller and more refined than he was used to, and as a consequence he'd almost tripped more times that he was prepared to admit (even to himself).

Just as he got to the end of his little path which connected with the main route, the tip of his wooden sandal caught on a small lump of earth and he was forced to skip over the next step to keep himself upright, cursing to himself about the state of the roads, he froze in his tracks as he heard the sound of highly amused feminine giggles from not too far away. Turning his head, he caught sight a woman dressed in similar traditional garb like himself (though her kimono was of a tasteful pale-green), she was fairly plain looking, but the smile on her face brightened it,

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you," She spoke, as Kakuzu kept his grumpy unimpressed expression, "Its just, you looked so formal and in control and then you almost tripped, haha," She couldn't quite resist another breath of laughter but stepped closer to him at the same time, a small woven basket hanging from one arm and a large, over-stuffed shopping bag in the other.

"I'm sorry, but do you think you could help me?" Before he could respond, she dumped the bag into his arms, which automatically snapped around to hold it steady, though he hesitated. It had been a long time since he'd lived in normal society - _it's still considered polite for a man to help a woman, isn't it?_ It wasn't like being in the Akatsuki with Konan, the -ahem,_ polite_ way would be to say she was independent to a fault and wanted no display of weakness by needing help from a man...not that any of the others would rush to her aid either (_they_ didn't want to show weakness by helping her, paradoxically). The woman stepped off walking, though, not giving Kakuzu time to protest and he could only keep up,

"My name is Danki Ume and I'm sorry to trouble you, you are going into Timichi-Gai, right?"

"Yes,"

"Good! What's your name?"

"Um..." He actually hadn't bothered to think up a name before now, "Unagi," Was unfortunately the first thing that stupidly sprang to mind,

"Eel?" The girl questioned, crinkling an eyebrow in mild confusion, the expression was odd enough that it almost made him have to restrain a smile..._almost_,

"My parents...lived near the coast,"

"Ah, well I'm named after a fruit...so I guess being named for a fish isn't too weird," She chuckled again before they fell into an amiable silence as they walked. The mainstreet of Timichi, which was fairly busy for the late-afternoon, though nobody spared them a glance.

"My house is just a little bit further up this way, if you don't mind?"

"It's fine," He responded shortly, whilst he did sort of want to get away from being near someone which always presented the risk of being discovered, it had also been a very long time since someone had been so polite, though pushy, towards him and he didn't have an image of tough-criminal-shinobi to live up to - he took advantage of the momentary reprise."Why do you have so many bags walking into this town?"

"Hmm? Oh, my father owns a small farm a few kilometers out and even though I went to bring him some groceries, he worries about me and my sister living alone so he always wants to give us loads of food - even though its more trouble to carry it back from his than it is right across the street from my house," She rolled her eyes slightly in typical childish irritation at an over-bearing parent. "Here we are, thank you so much Unagi-san," She bowed lightly too him as her front door suddenly slid open,

"Ume-baka! What took you so long?" A shrill female voice interrupted them, "Did Otou-san giv-" The similar looking girl sudden stopped upon setting eyes on Kakuzu, "Oh, hello," She smiled politely, if not a little flirtatiously; as powerful and long lived as the Akatsuki was, the young girl's actions almost floored him. _A girl...flirting with...him..?_ His brain tried to catch up with the apparently ridiculous turn of events.

"Chiaki, you block-head, don't start flirting with him! He was just helping me carry back all of Father's supplies, I just met him walking into town...c'mon," She gestrued gruffly, taking the bag out of Kazuko's hands, "Thank you again Unagi-san," She said before closing the door, though he could still hear their rather raised conversation,

"Eel?" Ume sighed loudly,

"His parents were fishermen, now get back to bed, you know you're still sick!"

"Oh, way to broadcast it, Ume-baka!"

"Shut up!" Kakuzu, still feeling rather surprised, he walked away towards his first target among the shops..._when was the last time someone had flirted with him? _If he didn't know that Hidan was so crummy at Henge, he'd almost have thought that it was his moron of a partner trying to make fun of him.

* * *

"So you're sure that's him?" Ino queried once they were certainly alone,

"Yes, I could detect the slight chakra signature, though it was very hidden...I'm certain that one of our guys,"

"Well, the mole _did_ say they'd probably be making an appearance since he couldn't make their drop...do you think we should contact Aoba's team?" Sakura shook her head,

"No, I still think its too soon...Try and get a lock on him using one of the birds and I'll go and meet him again later, he isn't very talkative, but I might be able to get him to speak a bit more,"

"Be careful Sakura...if this is our guy, then he is _still _an Akatsuki member and can still easily kill you if he gets pissed off,"

"Thanks for all the faith, Ino," The naturally pink-haired kuniochi rolled her eyes, "But I doubt that...they do know that we're around and its not in their interest to draw our attention too much and to let us know that they're definitely operating in this area, right? But I'll play it safe anyway."

Retaining her henge, the medical kuniochi moved away to the small garden which held a small pond - it was barely the size of an average kitchen sink, but it was all that was needed for her to remain in contact with Naruto. As soon as she was within about five feet of the pond, a subdued little croak told her that Gama-Peach was present and had a message waiting; she kneeled on the small, clean flagstone beside it and, after checking around that nobody was watching, she called the brightly coloured frog forwards, it grinned in a way that had Sakura mysteriously knowing that it was smiling before opening its mouth and unfurling its tongue to present a hastily written note from Naruto,

'S-chan, I saw a guy with you earlier, was it him?'

'Yes,' She wrote back, 'I'm sure of it, I'll be going out later to try and talk with him more, Ino's getting a trace now,' Gama-Peach offered a thumbs up before disappearing back into the water which would allow him to transport to Naruto's location, when he returned, she had to stop herself laughing,

'Old-man says he looked at the chakra and confirmed that we haven't met him before,' 'Old man' meant Kakashi, no doubt, but Sakura frowned slightly at the confirmation of her suspicion, they had no idea what the capabilities of this unknown nin was or his temperament, it was, in all senses of the word: an unknown. Gama-Peach disappeared again before Sakura could respond, with a second note that read, 'Old man says be careful but do your best to get him to talk,'

'Roger that,' She quickly replied before getting up and preparing for how she'd deal with Akatsuki later; she just hoped that her cute-civilian-village-girl persona disarmed as much as she thought it had. _It was a shame though,_ she thought, _that for someone so good looking and effortlessly charming to be such an evil bastard…_The words almost _felt_ saccharine to think of, though she couldn't deny the truth of them…a small part of her _genuinely_ wantedto meet him later.

* * *

Kakuzu _hated_ shopping, it was such a chore that he could never do it in one go, although Konan would probably be pissed at him for wasting the Akatsuki time and money on tea and his (rather grandiose) dinner, but he just couldn't care less. He allowed his senses and chakra-senses to widen as he 'looked' over as much of the village as he could; he was aware that there were Konoha nin around, but he hadn't sensed any chakra signatures and everything has seemed quite normal…of course, Pein would probably also grouse at the fact that he was using _technically_ the closest village (and therefore the most obvious) but Kakuzu just couldn't be bothered with caring – if they wanted quality, then they should have taken into consideration his willingness to do the job.

"U-Unagi-san?" As a familiar female voice interrupted his peace, his lips pursed slightly before looking up to meet her green-eyed gaze, "It is you! Haha, what a coincidence that we should end up at the same dinner-house," She smiled lightly, before setting her tray down in front of him and taking the seat opposite, "How was your shopping? Successful I take it," She eyed his nearby bags before clapping her hands together with a soft whisper of _itadikimasu_ before snapping apart her chopsticks and clasping one of her _tempura to_ take a bite.

"Why aren't you eating at home with your…sister," Sakura raised an eyebrow, expressing her general interest in what he had to say, though her mind secretly swarmed all over her his strange tone on 'sister'.

"Oh, she was driving me crazy – I know it's not her fault, she's really been cooped up at home due to her illness, but I either go out for dinner or find somewhere to bury the body, haha," Her grin was a little sheepish, though amiable but his expression was as stoic and unchanging as ever. "I guess you're just visiting Timichi-Gai, huh? Do you live far?"

"…A few kilometres,"

"Ah, that's not so bad, at least you won't have too much of a long walk in the dark," She smiled as they continued to eat for a little while; Kakuzu's mind was spinning – he'd been a shinobi for years and years…far longer than _anyone else_ had ever been a shinobi, in fact, and yet, he had never encountered a situation like this. Here was a woman, who apparently was interested in him and wasn't frightened by his – admittedly henge'd – appearance and apparently, didn't seem to mind that he was less-than-talkative.

Of course, it vaguely occurred to him that this was all a set up and it seemed highly likely, but…Kakuzu was no idiot and of almost every shinobi he'd met, he was the most competent. Even if she was an enemy, he didn't doubt they'd try anything right in the middle of town (not to mention Konoha nin were incredibly soft –hearted when it came to endangering civilians, anyway) but the man was immortal – whatever it was that happened – he was the ideal man to deal with it. He didn't relax his guard, but he allowed himself to find a bit more out about the woman in front of him.

"Have you lived in Timichi all your life?"

"Yes, pretty much,"

"Earlier, you mentioned your father…is your mother still around?" Her expression pained a bit, but Kakuzu didn't waver his gaze,

"Ah, no…she died about five years ago,"

"I see. Has your sister been ill for long?" Her confused and slightly hurt expression told 'Unagi' a lot,

"Wh…yes, a few years, but…"

"But?"

"I…I just told you that my mother died and you change the conversation like it means nothing?" _She must be a civilian…or an exceptional actress…_

"You already said that she died some years ago," Ume took a moment to compose herself,

"I...suppose you're right. Meeting with my father always brings back such…_fresh_ memories, you know? I feel like it was only yesterday when I'm with him,"

"I understand," He supplied simply, instinctively he twitched his lip muscles, into what was probably a horrific excuse for a smile, but the one he got in return from her – although it was barely a curve of her mouth – somehow…_eased_ him.

They finished their dinner and got up to leave, the village now dark and mostly devoid of life, Kakuzu found himself leading the way as they ambled through the streets; something felt _off_ but at the same time Ungai was strangely comfortable, he felt _in control_. A feeling he definitely wasn't used to in the same way as this, but one that he strangely liked. Before they realised it and before they'd said a word more to each other, they found themselves at the dark exit of Timichi – before them, the gloomy lightlessness of the forest and the mulled squint of the town behind them. Sakura paused, aware that it would seem unnatural if she didn't query it,

"Um…" She began, hoping that 'Ungai' would continue,

"You want to go home?"

"I'm about to go into the woods with a strange man…why wouldn't I?" She laughed nervously, though Kakuzu halted, finding himself somehow affected by her words,

"Then I guess we say goodbye here," She turned to face him, her expression apprehensive in a strangely…_endeari_-weird way; she didn't respond verbally, but as alienated as Kakazu was from the norms of society, he still somehow felt the sudden charge in the air, and the way in which everything else seemed to fade out and key of his focus was her and those green eyes.

It took a moment for it to register, but the sudden electricity between them wasn't just _between them_ anymore and Kakuzu got the distinct impression they weren't alone…for as much as he'd planned to _dispose_ of her for getting so close to him, his instinct was simply to flee (as unmanly as that was, it made the most sense),

"Sorry, but it's time I left. Goodbye." He turned on his heel and practically marched away, as much as his yukaka would allow; he didn't dare look back, though he could sense that she hadn't moved.

He only wished he could figure out why his heart had just skipped a beat…

..

.

* * *

_[1] A form of medicinal herb usually associated with the treatment of skin conditions such as cysts or pustuals (topically) when the stem is broken and the yellow ooze is used (O.o) also as a digestive stimulant when taken internally (possibly in dried, ground or steeped version);_

_[2] Another medicinal herb considered a good source of amino acids, vitamins and minerals as well as fibres, its associated with strengthening the arterial vessels._

_As a general note: Danki Ume (Plum blossom is as close as a synonym for 'cherry blossom' [i.e. Sakura] as I could find! Hence her alias / the title of this story! ^_^)_


End file.
